The name comes from the Common Brittonic words that survive in modern Welsh as pen ("head, end, summit") and coed ("woodland"), and thus it once meant "end of the wood", like a number of similar names, including Pencoed in Wales.

[1] The largest amosite mine in the world, in South Africa, was named Penge apparently because one of the British directors thought the two areas were similar in appearance.

[3] The green was bounded to the north by Penge Lane, the west by Beckenham Road and the southeast by the Crooked Billet.

This left the Crooked Billet with no frontage to Beckenham Road; hence, new premises were constructed on the present site in 1827, and subsequently replaced in 1840 with a three-storey building.

William Hone wrote about a visit to the Crooked Billet in 1827[6] and included a detailed sketch of the last building on the original site.

In the Victorian era, Penge developed into a fashionable suburb because of the railway line and its proximity to the relocated Crystal Palace.

It became a fashionable day out to visit the Crystal Palace during the day and to take the tram down the hill to one of the 'twenty-five pubs to the square mile'[8] that Penge was reputed to possess, or the two music halls—The King's Hall (later the Gaumont cinema) and, established in 1915, the Empire Theatre (later the Essoldo cinema).

In 1875 Frederick Hunt murdered his wife and children,[13] then in 1877 a wealthy heiress, Harriet Staunton, together with her infant son, was starved to death by her husband and his associates.

[17] The Local Government Act 1888 abolished the Metropolitan Board, with its area becoming the County of London.

The former National Rail services to London Bridge, East Croydon and points south have been discontinued post Covid-19, although there is a campaign to have them reinstated.

Penge East and Kent House also serve the area with National Rail services to London Victoria, Bromley South and Orpington.

These connect it with areas including Beckenham, Bromley, Camberwell, Catford, Central London, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Dulwich, Elephant & Castle, Elmers End, Farnborough, Forest Hill, Lewisham, Orpington, Peckham, Shirley, South Norwood, Sydenham and West Wickham.

Avenue Road is located on the southern tip of Penge and provides transport links to Wimbledon, Beckenham and Croydon.

St John the Evangelist's Church, Penge (pictured right) in Beckenham Road, was built in 1850 to designs by Edwin Nash & J. N.

[27] Penge Congregational Church was built in 1912 to designs by P. Morley Horder with passage aisles and clerestory, shafts on large, excellently carved corbels,[27] and a stained glass window by William Morris.

Crystal Palace Park contains the National Sports Centre, which includes an international-class athletic stadium, and a former motorsport circuit that was used in the 1969 film The Italian Job.